Flag Cookies.... Just in Time!!!

We made these flag cookies last year on the 4th of July to celebrate... the 4th of July! It's a cookie base with a cream cheese spread and fresh strawberries and blueberries -- how patriotic, right! In addition to being patriotic, they are also very yummy (cream cheese and yummy berries.... Mmmmmm!)

Kids love to bake and decorate cookies, so this is a perfect family project. This masterpiece was made by a 6-year-old artist. It's conceptual :-)

Give them a try! Here you go!:

FLAG COOKIES:

I used the recipe for Thumbprint Cookies as the base. You could probably roll them out and cut nice rectangles.. we formed them by hand. I used a piece of wax paper to help me get the sides nice and straight.

Dough:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 and 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Topping:
2  8-oz. packages of cream cheese
4 tablespoons of sugar

Fruit Decorations:
Fresh blueberries, cut in half from top to bottom
Fresh strawberries, with the outer edge of the fruit cut into little strips

1. Make your dough: Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg yolks and vanilla. Last add the flour and salt.

2. Form the dough into rectangles about 3x4 inches in size, and a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Bake them at 350 degrees. Get them out of the oven when the edges just barely start to change colors (to brown).

3. Make your cream cheese topping by mixing the cream cheese and sugar together. Prepare your fruit.

4. When the cookies are cooled off, use a small offset spatula to spread the cream cheese topping across the top of the cookies. Arrange the blueberries in one corner to act like the star-spangled part of the flag. Arrange the strawberry strips into red and white stripes.

5. Eat them! Share them! Everyone will love them!!!

Here's a picture of our work product. Most of the cookies kept with the flag theme :-)

And the original Thumbprint Cookie recipe:

HAPPY FOURTH YA'LL!!!!!!!